Last week’s move by the Isle of Wight County supervisors to help the school system was a smart one.

Specifically, the board decided to cover the third back pay invoice — $285,000 — for the work that was performed to create the new Georgie D. Tyler Middle School.

And as advertisements will exclaim: “But wait! There’s more!”

The supervisors also agreed to make any payments that follow, much to the happy surprise of the school system.

As it has been explained to us, the money for the new invoice and the others will come from a reserve account established for the Davis-Bacon Act payments. That source is from the unassigned fund balance.

All this enables the school system to use the saved money for a much-needed replacement of a sprinkler system at the elementary school in Carrollton. That work has evidently been judged the most crucial, and we won’t disagree. We’re given to understand that the school system’s procurement officer already started work looking for an engineer. With an extra bit of luck, perhaps the repairs will be done in time for the next school year.

In time, Windsor Elementary and other schools will also get their repairs, perhaps much sooner than anticipated because of the invoice relief.

This action by the board shows its recognition that students, teachers and staff need buildings that are physically safe and sound.

As others have said, it was the right thing to do.